Electro-mechanical fuse for detecting monitored component deflection

ABSTRACT

An electro-mechanical fuse is provided and includes a chassis component, an extrusion disposed on a monitored component which is disposable proximate to the chassis component and a sensor. The sensor is mounted to the chassis component. The sensor is mechanically breakable in power-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion as a result of a predefined action of or relative to the monitored component. The sensor electrically signals an occurrence of the mechanical breakage during power-on conditions following mechanical breakage.

DOMESTIC BENEFIT/NATIONAL STAGE INFORMATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/720,861, which was filed on Sep. 29, 2017. The entire disclosures ofU.S. application Ser. No. 15/720,861 are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

The disclosure relates generally to an electro-mechanical fuse that isconfigured to detect a predefined magnitude of deflection of a monitoredcomponent.

Deflection, or the ability of a component to deflect, is acharacteristic of components in many products for which there arespecific critical tolerances. Therefore, the ability to detect caseswhere deflection tolerances have been exceeded can be important tomaintaining a product as well as preventing unsafe conditions. As such,a device that is capable of detecting and recording occurrences of outof tolerance deflection is often needed to ensure quality andreliability of products.

SUMMARY

According to one or more embodiments, an electro-mechanical fuse isprovided. The electro-mechanical fuse includes a chassis component, anextrusion that is disposed on a monitored component, which is disposableproximate to the chassis component, and a sensor. The sensor is mountedto the chassis component. The sensor is mechanically breakable inpower-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion as a result of apredefined action of or relative to the monitored component. The sensorelectrically signals an occurrence of the mechanical breakage duringpower-on conditions following mechanical breakage.

According to one or more embodiments, an electro-mechanical fuse isprovided for identifying deflection of a monitored component. Theelectro-mechanical fuse includes a chassis component that includes amounting, a conductor assembly that includes an encased conductingfilament and circuitry. The circuitry is configured to identify encasedconducting filament breakage. The encased conducting filament issupportively disposable on the mounting such that the encased conductingfilament oppositely faces and is separate from the chassis component andthe monitored component, respectively. The electro-mechanical fusefurther includes an extrusion disposed on the monitored component toimpact and then break the encased conducting filament upon a predefinedaction of or relative to the monitored component.

According to one or more embodiments, a method of operating anelectro-mechanical fuse is provided for detecting a predefined action ofor relative to a monitored component. The method includes disposing anextrusion on the monitored component with the monitored componentproximate to a chassis component, mounting a sensor to the chassiscomponent, configuring the sensor to be mechanically breakable inpower-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion as a result of thepredefined action of or relative to the monitored component andconfiguring the sensor to electrically signal an occurrence of themechanical breakage during power-on conditions following the mechanicalbreakage.

Additional technical features and benefits are realized through thetechniques of the present invention. Embodiments and aspects of theinvention are described in detail herein and are considered a part ofthe claimed subject matter. For a better understanding, refer to thedetailed description and to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The specifics of the exclusive rights described herein are particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages ofthe embodiments of the invention are apparent from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a computing device housing in accordancewith embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a side view of an electro-mechanical fuse for use with or inthe computing device housing of FIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of circuitry of theelectro-mechanical fuse of FIG. 2 in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the electro-mechanical fuse of FIG. 2 followinga breakage incident;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of components of the electro-mechanical fuseof FIGS. 2-4 in accordance with further embodiments;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of components of the electro-mechanical fuseof FIGS. 2-4 in accordance with further embodiments; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of operating anelectro-mechanical fuse in accordance with embodiments.

The diagrams depicted herein are illustrative. There can be manyvariations to the diagram or the operations described therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the actionscan be performed in a differing order or actions can be added, deletedor modified. Also, the term “coupled” and variations thereof describeshaving a communications path between two elements and does not imply adirect connection between the elements with no interveningelements/connections between them. All of these variations areconsidered a part of the specification.

In the accompanying figures and following detailed description of thedisclosed embodiments, the various elements illustrated in the figuresare provided with two or three digit reference numbers. With minorexceptions, the leftmost digit(s) of each reference number correspond tothe figure in which its element is first illustrated

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In view of the above, embodiments disclosed herein may include anelectro-mechanical fuse and a method and/or a computer program productfor operating an electro-mechanical fuse for detecting a predefinedaction of or relative to a monitored component (e.g., a predefinedmagnitude of deflection of the monitored component). For purposes ofclarity and brevity, the following description will relate to the casewhere the electro-mechanical fuse is configured for detecting apredefined magnitude of deflection of the monitored component.

Embodiments described herein are rooted in an electro-mechanical fuseand a method and/or a computer program product for operating anelectro-mechanical fuse for detecting a predefined magnitude ofdeflection of a monitored component where excessive deflection of themonitored component results in an extrusion applying pressure to a bodyof the electro-mechanical fuse that eventually leads to cracking orbreakage that opens up a sensor circuit. The embodiments provide fordetection of out of tolerance deflections during power-on or power-offconditions where a signal that cracking or breakage has occurred isissued in response to sampling following power-on conditions takingeffect. The electro-mechanical fuse is tailorable and low cost andreplacement is inexpensive and can be performed with inspection orrepair of the monitored component.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a computing device housing 10 is provided for usein the assembly and operation of a computing device and includes avolumetric body 11 having a pair of opposite major surfaces (of which,one is missing or removed) and two pairs of opposite minor surfaces thatdefine an interior 12. Within the interior 12, the computing devicehousing 10 accommodates various components including, but not limitedto, slots 13 and cards or printed circuit boards (PCBs) 14. The PCBs 14are insertable into the slots 13 in various configurations andarrangements to achieve a certain computing capability for the computingdevice. In the illustration of FIG. 1, two PCBs 14 are shown as havingbeen inserted into two slots 13 but six additional slots 13 areavailable.

During transport, maintenance or repair of the computing device,external forces can be applied to the components mentioned above. Forexample, during a replacement or repair of one of the PCBs 14, anoperator may insert his hand into the interior 12 and intentionally orunintentionally deflect the other PCB 14. Such deflection can either bewithin predefined tolerances or in excess of predefined tolerances.Where the deflection of the PCB 14 exceeds the predefined tolerances,the deflection can lead to damage or a shorting out of components on thedeflected PCB 14. Thus, the deflection tolerances are typicallyestablished such that they are exceeded well before actual damageoccurs.

In a conventional computing device, conventional sensors can be providedin order to detect the deflection of the PCB 14 (hereinafter referred toas a “monitored component”) so that deflections which approach or exceedthe predefined tolerances can be identified and, if necessary,addressed. The conventional sensors may include, for example,sacrificial sensors, strain gauges and accelerometers. The sacrificialsensors tend to require substantial real estate on the monitoredcomponent relative to the size of the monitored component. The straingages typically provide for deflection sensing action but not hysteresisand thus need to be activated and currently reading in order to record adeflection. The accelerometers exhibit similar problems as thesacrificial sensors and the strain gauges.

As will be described herein, a sensor design is provided which iscapable of detecting out-of-tolerance forces, torques or deflections inPCBs or other similar components and for other associated uses. Thesensor design is tailorable for use in various environments and lowcost.

With reference to FIGS. 2-4, an electro-mechanical fuse 20 is provided.The electro-mechanical fuse 20 is configured in particular foridentifying deflection of a monitored component 21 and especially fordetecting out-of-tolerance deflections of the monitored component 21.

As shown in FIG. 2, the electro-mechanical fuse 20 includes a chassiscomponent 22, a sensor 23 and one or more extrusions 24. The chassiscomponent 22 may be provided as a fixed or unfixed and possibly rigidcomponent of the computing device housing 10 of FIG. 1 and may include awall portion or an internal structural feature of the computing devicehousing 10. In any case, the chassis component 22 is provided within thecomputing device housing 10 and includes a surface 220 and a mounting221. The surface 220 has a plane P which is substantially flat whereby adeflection of the monitored component 21 can be established and measuredrelative to the surface 220. The mounting 221, may be provided as one ormore bosses 222 that protrude outwardly from the plane P of the surface220. The sensor 23 is mounted on or by way of the mounting 221 to thechassis component 22. The sensor 23 is configured to be mechanicallybreakable in power-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion 24 as aresult of a predefined magnitude of deflection of the monitoredcomponent 21 has occurred. The sensor 23 is further configured toelectrically signal an occurrence of the mechanical breakage duringpower-on conditions or once power-on conditions take effect followingthe mechanical breakage. Such electronic signaling may be automatic orresponsive to interrogation or sampling of the sensor 23.

In accordance with embodiments, the sensor 23 may include or be providedas a conductor assembly 30. The conductor assembly 30 includes aconducting filament 31, a body (hereinafter referred to as an“encasement”) 32 for supporting or, more particularly, encasing aportion or length of the conducting filament 31 and circuitry 33 (seeFIG. 3). The conducting filament 31 includes ends or leads 310 that areelectrically communicative with the circuitry 33 whereby the circuitry33 is configured to identify encased conducting filament breakage (i.e.,a breakage of at least the conducting filament 31). The encasement 32and the encased length of the conducting filament 31 are supportivelydisposable on the mounting 221 such that the encasement 32 and theencased length of the conducting filament 31 face and are separate fromthe surface 220 of the chassis component 22 in a first direction andface and are separate from the monitored component 21 in a seconddirection which is opposite the first direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the circuitry 33 is connectable with the leads 310and includes at least a processing circuit 330. The processing circuit330 may include a processor 331, which is connectable with theconducting filament 31, a memory unit 332 and a networking unit 333which provides for communications between the processor 331 and externaldevices. The memory unit 332 has executable instructions stored thereonfor execution by the processor 331. When executed by the processor 331,the executable instructions cause the processor 331 to operate asdescribed herein. For example, in a case where the encasement 32 and theencased length of the conducting filament 31 of the sensor 23 aremechanically broken by the extrusion during a power-off condition, theexecutable instructions may be configured to cause the processor to bereceptive of a sampling signal from an external device upon power-upconditions taking effect, to then determine whether the circuitry 33 isopen as a result of the mechanical breakage and to correspondinglyelectrically signal to the external device that an occurrence of themechanical breakage has occurred at some point during the power-offconditions.

In accordance with embodiments, the determining of whether the circuitry33 is open may be conducted by the processor 331 sending current intoone side of the conducting filament 31 and reading whether the currentis received at the other side of the conducting filament 31. If nocurrent receipt is read, the processor 31 determines that the circuitry33 is open and that the conducting filament 31 has been broken. Thesending of the current into the one side of the conducting filament 31may be conducted by the processor 331 periodically and/or in response toan interrogation or a sampling during power-on conditions. The sendingof the current into the one side of the conducting filament 31 may beconducted by the processor 331 upon power-on conditions taking effectand/or in response to an interrogation or a sampling which occurs whenpower-on conditions take effect.

The distance D1 between the outer surface (chassis side) of theencasement 32 and the surface 220 of the chassis component 22 and thedistance D2 between the outer surface (monitored component side) of theencasement 32 and the monitored component 21 are each established by thetotal distance between the monitored component 21 and the chassiscomponent 22 and by the respective lengths of the one or more bosses 222as measured from the plane P of the surface 220.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the extrusion 24 is disposed on the monitoredcomponent 21 to face and extend toward the chassis component 22 and toimpact and then break the encasement 32 and the conducting filament 31upon a predefined magnitude of deflection of the monitored component 21.That is, the total distance between the monitored component 21 and thechassis component 22 and the respective lengths of the one or morebosses 222 as measured from the plane P of the surface 220 may be setsuch that the extrusion 24 breaks the encasement 32 and the conductingfilament 31 upon the predefined magnitude of deflection of the monitoredcomponent 21 with the predefined magnitude of deflection being set at orbelow the deflection tolerances for the monitored component 21. In thisway, in an event the deflection of the monitored component 21 occurssuch that mechanical breakage by the extrusion 24 also occurs, suchmechanical breakage can and will be sensed by the sensor 23 so thatmitigating actions can be taken if necessary.

In accordance with embodiments, the extrusion 24 may be formed of or mayinclude materials that are harder than those of the conducting filament31 and the encasement 32. In this way, a breakage-level impact betweenthe extrusion and the encasement 32 will result in the mechanicalbreakage of the encasement 32 and not the extrusion 24.

In accordance with embodiments, the total distance between the monitoredcomponent 21 and the chassis component 22 and the respective lengths ofthe one or more bosses 222 as measured from the plane P of the surface220 may be set or sized so as to provide for a clean mechanical breakageof the encasement 32 and the conducting filament 31 of the sensor 23.That is, in an event of an excessive deflection of the monitoredcomponent 21, the distance D1 will be sufficient for allowing a completemechanical breakage of the encasement 32 and the conducting filament 31.

In accordance with further embodiments and, with reference to FIG. 5, atleast one or both of the conducting filament 31 and the encasement 32may be made of brittle materials, such as a rigid conducting fiber inthe case of the conducting filament 31 or glass in the case of theencasement 32, or laminate or composite materials having known breakstrengths which are known from empirical calculations relative to aprototype and are tuned or which are derived using known materialproperties (e.g., Young's modulus and stress curves for non-ductilematerials). In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, at least one or both of theconducting filament 31 and the encasement 32 may be pre-cracked at alocation 501 which corresponds to the projected impact location of theextrusion 24. This pre-cracking may facilitate or encourage anappropriate mechanical breakage of the conducting filament 31 and theencasement 32.

In accordance with further embodiments and, with reference to FIG. 6, atleast one or both of the conducting filament 31 and the encasement 32may be configured for mechanical breakage in multiple stages 601, 602and 603. Here, the stage 601 may correspond to a deflection of themonitored component 21 that is undesirable and an event to be sensed butnot necessarily one that is associated with a damaging incident, thestage 602 may corresponding to a deflection of the monitored component21 that is at or slightly in excess of the deflection tolerances andthus may be associated with damage requiring maintenance and the stage603 may be associated with substantial deflection of the monitoredcomponent 21 that is likely to be associated with damage requiringreplacement of the monitored component 21. In each case, the circuitry33 may be configured to correspondingly electrically signal occurrencesof the mechanical breakages in each of the multiple stages 601, 602 and603.

With reference to FIG. 7, a method of operating an electro-mechanicalfuse for detecting a predefined magnitude of deflection of a monitoredcomponent is provided. The method initially includes disposing anextrusion on the monitored component (block 701) and then positioningthe monitored component proximate to a chassis component (block 702).The method also includes mounting a sensor to the chassis component(block 703) before, during or after the disposition of the extrusionand/or the positioning of the monitored component. The mounting mayinclude, for example, sizing a mounting for the sensor to provide forclean mechanical breakage (block 7031). The method further includesconfiguring the sensor to be mechanically breakable in power-on andpower-off conditions by the extrusion in one or multiple stages as aresult of the predefined magnitude of deflection of the monitoredcomponent (block 704) and configuring the sensor to electrically signalan occurrence of the one-stage or multiple-stage mechanical breakageduring power-on conditions following the mechanical breakage (block705).

In accordance with embodiments and, as described above, the sensor mayinclude a conductor assembly that in turn includes a conductingfilament, an encasement to encase the conducting filament and circuitry.The circuitry is configured to identify the mechanical breakage at aninstant of the mechanical breakage (if the mechanical breakage occurredduring power-on conditions being in effect) or upon the power-onconditions taking effect (if the mechanical breakage occurred duringpower-off conditions being in effect). At least one of the conductingfilament and the encasement are at least one of brittle and pre-crackedand the extrusion may be harder than at least the encasement.

In accordance with further embodiments and, as shown in FIG. 7, themethod may also include configuring the sensor to automaticallyelectrically signal the occurrence of the one-stage or multiple-stagemechanical breakage (block 7051) or to do so in response to aninterrogation or sampling (block 7052).

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, thesingular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It willbe further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,”when used in this specification, specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one more other features,integers, steps, operations, element components, and/or groups thereof.

The descriptions of the various embodiments herein have been presentedfor purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variationswill be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departingfrom the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminologyused herein was chosen to best explain the principles of theembodiments, the practical application or technical improvement overtechnologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinaryskill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating an electro-mechanical fusefor detecting a predefined action of or relative to a monitoredcomponent, the method comprising: disposing an extrusion on themonitored component with the monitored component proximate to a chassiscomponent; mounting a sensor to the chassis component; configuring thesensor to be mechanically breakable in power-on and power-off conditionsby the extrusion as a result of the predefined action of or relative tothe monitored component; and configuring the sensor to electricallysignal an occurrence of a mechanical breakage during power-on conditionsfollowing the mechanical breakage.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the mounting of the sensor comprises sizing a mounting for thesensor to provide for clean mechanical breakage.
 3. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a conductor assemblycomprising: a conducting filament; a body to support the conductingfilament; and circuitry configured to identify the mechanical breakageupon the power-on conditions taking effect, wherein at least one of theconducting filament and the body are at least one of: brittle, comprisedof laminates or composites with known break strengths, and at least oneof: scored, scribed, pre-cracked, and pre-stressed, and the extrusion isharder than at least the body.
 4. The method according to claim 1,further comprising sampling the sensor to electrically signal theoccurrence of the mechanical breakage.
 5. The method according to claim1, wherein: the configuring of the sensor to be mechanically breakablecomprises configuring the sensor to mechanically break in multiplestages; and the configuring of the sensor to electrically signal theoccurrence of the mechanical breakage comprises configuring the sensorto correspondingly electrically signal occurrences of the mechanicalbreak in each of the multiple stages.